500 THE ANTARCTIC MANUAL. 
day, if possible, and it was intended to send a short sledge expedition 
into the interior to investigate the country. But the next day a gale 
arose, and the ship was compelled to steer northwards to more open 
water, as it was dangerous to remain in the vicinity of such heavy ice. 
A dense fog hung over the sea, completely blotting the land from 
sight; and so, as there appeared but little possibility of making land in 
that kind of weather, and there being no likelihood of it clearing, it 
was decided to abandon the idea and to proceed on our way to Cape 
Adare. Thus all our nicely arranged plans made the day before were 
frustrated. 
Towards the evening of January 28, the clouds, which for days 
had persistently obscured our horizon, lifted and disclosed to our 
eyes the rugged outline of a mountainous land to the south. Nothing 
could look more inhospitable. At this time (10 p.m.) the east extremity 
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ONE OF TUE BALLENY ISLANDS, LAT. (OF suIP) 65° 3’ s., LoNG. 161° 43’ &. cENTRE 
OF ISLAND BEARING 8. 20° E. TRUE, DISTANT ABOUT 50 MILES, 
was bearing 8, 26° BE. true, and the west extremity 8. 45° W. true. 
Our latitude at noon was 66° 46’ S., long. 165° 40’ E., and variation of 
compass 30° H.; the land at that time being distant about 40 miles. 
There is little doubt that the land we sighted was one of the Russel 
islands discovered by Sir James Ross in 1841. It has been suggested 
that the Balleny islands and the islands seen by Ross near them were 
identical. We have proved that they were groups quite apart. The 
Balleny islands were discovered on February 9, 1839, and consisted of 
three islands. The west cape of the middle island lay in lat. 66° 44’ 8. 
and long. 163° 11' E. Buckle island was in active eruption in two 
places when Balleny saw it. To the east of it lies Sturge island, which 
is cone shaped, whilst Young island is the largest and highest of the 
group. Ross’s discovery lies more to the south-east. The position of 
Russel Peak, according to Ross, was lat. 67° 28’ S. and long. 165° 30’ E., 
with which our observations agree. Those observations were very 
carefully taken in an artificial mercury horizon, placed on the 
surface of a large icefloe, by Lieut. Colbeck and myself. I have 
mentioned this in justice to Lieut. Colbeck, whose observations have 
evidently been miscopied from his original observation book, and 
